October 30, 2021 — The University of the Philippines Manila created the ad hoc Committee on Research Integrity (CRI) on October 17, 2019 to oversee continuing education on the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). 

Its five core members are Dr. Edward Wang, Dr. Katherine V. Reyes, Prof. Marilen P. Balolong, Dr. Jean B. Toral, Dr. Juanito V. Mantaring III, with Rommel Adducul as secretary. The CRI was envisioned as an interim body that would lay the foundation for its expansion into an office. 

The Office of the Chancellor had noted a trend from international funding agencies and research investigators requiring Offices of Research Integrity in collaborating institutions. The rapidly growing infrastructure of UP Manila, with an increase in researchers, researches, and research funding; and mounting pressures for faculty and student promotion and recognition are among the challenges to research integrity. 

Breaches of responsible conduct of research, especially the major ones, including fabrication and falsification of data and plagiarism, erode trust in research in particular, and science in general. On the other hand, strict adherence to such standards leads to excellent, reliable, and trustworthy research. 

Attendance at the 6th World Conference on Research Integrity in Hong Kong in June 2019 provided both the impetus and the resources for the inaugural conference on Research Integrity.Held during the UPM celebration of the National Science & Technology Week in August of the same year. This was followed in February 2020 with a workshop for administration officials of the UPM, including deans, unit heads, and department chairs.

COVID dampened this momentum temporarily but virtual lectures were continued through the Good Research Practice Workshops of the Expanded Health Research Office of the Philippine General Hospital and through pocket lectures in the colleges.

It soon became clear that the Committee had two equally important goals: promote a culture of research integrity through awareness and education and establish a fair and transparent mechanism in responding to allegations of violations. At the same time, in order to lay the foundations for this “culture”, one important step was to craft a UP Manila Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research. Patterned after codes from Europe, Australia, the United States; and borrowing from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Principles of Research Integrity, a code unique to the UP Manila was submitted for approval to the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee.

On August 26, 2021, the UP Board of Regents approved the UPM Code at its 1363rd meeting, for adoption by the entire UP System. The Code contains a Preamble and 7 Principles of Research Integrity, adopted from the APEC Principles including: Honesty (Katapatan), Responsibility (Pananagutan), Rigor (Higpit), Transparency (Aninaw), Respect (Respeto), Fairness (Pagkamakatarungan), and Diversity (Pagkakaiba-iba). The 3rd segment contains the Responsibilities of the Institution, the Researcher, and Funding Agencies. A 4th part states that violations of the Code have corresponding sanctions, the guidelines of which will be handled separately by Committees in different Constituent Units (CU) based on their internal policies. 

In order to define the level of awareness of Research Integrity within UP Manila, the Committee, in May of 2020 also began an NIH-sponsored study, “Perception of Research Integrity Climate in a University of Higher Education”; an ongoing study that continues to require the cooperation of our entire community.

At the same time, in order to provide continuing education, the CRI initiated this year three conferences on Plagiarism (April), Fabrication & Falsification (July), and Authorship  

CRI Team

Published in UP Manila Healthscape Issue No. 32, 31 October 2021